Machine for opening and cleaning cotton



(No Mddel.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

D. H. RICE. MAGHINE FOR OPENING AND CLEANING COTTON, &G.

No. 376,346. Patented Jan. 10, 1888.

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2 SheetsSheet 2.

(No Model.)

D. H. RICE. MACHINE FOR OPENING AND CLEANING COTTON, &c. No. 376,346.

Patented Jan. 10, 1888.

Imam:-

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID HALL RICE, OF BROOKLINE, ASSIGNOR TO THE KITSON MACHINE COMPANY, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINE FOR OPENING AND CLEANING COTTON, 84C.

SPECIFICATION forming part. of Letters Patent No. 376.346, dated January 10, l88.

' Application filed September 6, 1886. Serial No. M2792. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: Beit known that 1, DAVID HALL RICE, of Brookline, in the county of Norfolk and Commonwealth of Massachusettghave made a certain new and useful Improvement in Machines for Opening and Cleaning Cotton. and other Fibers, of which the following is a specification. I

My improvement relates to heaters for ma- IO chines for opening and cleaning cotton and other fibers; and it consists in certain new and useful constructions and combinations of the parts thereof, substantially as hereinafter-described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a beater for cotton-openers, with its central air-supply tube,partly in section, constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of Fig. 1 on the dotted line XX. Fig. 3 is a side view of the air-tube removed from the beater. Fig. 4 is an end view of the same. Fig. 5 is a side elevation',partly in longitudinal section, of a portion of a machine for opening and cleaning cotton, showing the method of mounting the beater and air-tube therein and connecting the fan or blower thereto, when a fan or blower is used. Fig. 6 is an end elevation, partly in transverse section, through the frame and easing of the ma- 0 chine shown in Fig. 5 in line with the axis of the beater. t

B is the beater, which is of the construction well known as a hollow-shaft beater, having perforations through the shaft within the eas- 5 ing of the machine for conducting air through the shaft and perforations and into the machine.

O is an internal tube which extends through the hollow shaft of the beater and serves to 40 conduct the air into the same. On one side of this tube is a long slot, 0, cut through the same, which serves to give the proper direction to the air-current passing through the tube C as it escapes therefrom and direct it 5 outward in such direction through the perforations b b as the latter are brought around opposite to the slot 0 by the rotation of the beatershaft in which they are located.

A difficulty has been experienced in the use of the parts above described heretofore from the liability of the air-current to be diverted from its'proper direction before passing and while passing through the perforations b b in case the tube C was made small enough to allow the beater-shaft to revolve freely around it without liability of clogging or filling up with floating fibers between them. If considerable space he not left between the tube C and theinternal surface of thebeatershaft, the small floating fibers of cotton will be drawn in between the outer surface of the tube and the inner surface of the shaft and clog the space between them, so as to create great friction. If considerable space be left between the tube Oand the internalsurface of the shaft, then the imperforate parts of the latter, passing rapidly across the face of slot 0 as it is rotated, divert or deflect the air current in considerable part around between the shaft and the tube Cand causeit to escape through other perforations than those immediately passing across slot 0, thereby greatly weakening its action in the direction which the slot givesit.

In order to provide means whereby these difficulties may be avoided, I attach to the tnbesC around the slot 0 a curbing or an edge piece, a, which I prefer to have fornicdof india-rubber,or a fibrous material saturated with india-rubber, or of felting or other similar elastic material. The edge piece, 0, entirely surrounds the slot 0 and projects outward in the form 'of a curbing a sutficient distance to brush or impinge against the inner surface of a hollow beater-shaft as it revolves around the tube 0. This curbing c is attached to the central tube, C, in any suitable manner--as, for instance, with a tube made of wood, by glue or tacks, or, with a metal tube, by small rivets.

- As the shaft of the beater revolves around, the

air, being confined by the elastic curbing c, blows directly outward through each of the perforations b with greatly-increased force and in the direction toward which the slot 0 is turned, and the edges of the curbing prevent any escape of the fibers of cotton into the space between the central tube and the beater-shaft and outside ofthe curbing. It also prevents any jamming or packing of lumps of cotton fiber between it and the hollow beater-shaft, because it will yield and allow such lumps to pass by it in case it should at any time become worn away so as to not quite touch the internal surface of the beatei sliatt. The slot 0, with its curbing c, in combination with the air-tube C, also performs the function of distributing the air equally along the whole length of the slot, because the slot is narrower than the tube 0, and the curbing c directs this equal supply of air through the perforations equally along the whole line of exposure as they come opposite to it, and in this respect the construction differs from a chamber open for its entire breadth upon the side adjacent to the rotating perforated beater-shaft, and the construction gives this advantage regardless of the amount of elasticity of curbing c.

In order to prevent any air from entering the hollow beater-shaft and passing through the perforations 1), except what is admitted through the tube 0,1 provide the tube G at each end of the hollow beatershaft and within the latter with a ring or collar of rubber, felt, or other elastic material or packing, which fills the space between the interior of the hollow beater-shaft and the tube G, and is lettered V c in the drawings.

The beater Band the tube 0 are mounted in the machine for opening cotton, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, in which A is the casing of the machine. Bis the beater, mounted in boxes thereon, and C G are standards or uprights fixed on the floor on which the machine stands, and supporting the ends of the tube 0, which project beyond t-liehollow beater shaft, as

shownin Fig. 1. F is a fan or blower placed on the floorof the room and driven from any suitable counter-shaft by the pulleyf. This blower is connected to the tube 0 by the tube 0 in the ordinary manner when it is desired to augment the current of air through the tube 0 beyond what would be ordinarily drawn through the tube by the usual suction-fan, as employed in such machines for opening cotton. The beater B is fed with cotton by the feedrolls 0 c e and the feed apron a in the usual manner, and the beater itself is driven by a pulley on the end of its hollow shaft in the manner well-known in such machines. The fan F and its connecting-tube C may be removed and the air allowed to enter the tube 0 and flow through it under the suction caused by the rotation of the beater alone, if desired. 1n all cases, however, the air will flow through theperforations in the hollow beater-shaft in the desired direction, substantially as indicated by the dotted line 01 in Fig. 2.

As the slot 0, with its curbing c, is narrower transversely than the internal diameter of the tube C, the latter carries its air along equally to the middle as well as the ends of the slot, because there is a greater head or body of air in the tube opposite each part of the slot than can escape through that part, and the curbing serves to direct this equal flow after it passes through the slot.

Vhat I claim as new, and of my invention, 1s-

1. The combination of the hollow perforated beater-shaft and the air tube or conduit 0, located therein and provided with the slot 0, and the elastic curbing 0 around the margin ofsaid slot, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the hollow perforated beater-shaft and the air tube or conduit 0,10- cated therein and provided with the slot 0. made narrower than the internal diameter of the conduit, and the curbing 0 around the margin of said slot, projecting outwardly toward the internal surface of the hollow beatershaft. substantially as described.

3. The combination ofthe hollow perforated beater-shaft and the air tube or conduit 0, located therein and provided with the slot c,the curbing 0 around the margin thereof, projecting outwardly toward the inner surface of the beater shaft, and the annular collars c" 0 within the beater-shaft and near its ends, substantially as described.

DAVID HALL RICE.

Witnesses:

N. P. OCKINGTON, GEORGE R. NUGENT. 

